Products of Interest

U & I Software VTrack 1.5 Multi-track Video Tool

U & I Software's VTrack is an eight-track video editor/sequencer and effects application that can be used to mix QuickTime movies, DV streams, still images, sounds, and ArtMatic structures. ArtMatic, also from U & I, is a graphics and animation synthesizer that allows users to easily create complex digital art using graphics functions and filters. The combination of video-mixing with ArtMatic features makes VTrack a useful post-production tool as well as an application for creating art and music videos.

A VTrack project consists of a number of events of different types arranged across eight tracks on a tempo-based grid. A number of different types of transport modes can be used to specify how the layers of events are combined. Events in VTrack can be picture, movie, Art Matic, or simpler graphic events created with the VTrack graphic editor. A project library of events for possible use can hold 96 pictures and movies, and 64 images. A set of 3,000 ArtMatic presets are provided. More than one project can be opened at the same time so the user can copy and paste between them. A separate soundfile can be associated with the project to act as a soundtrack. It is also possible to associate a soundfile with a particular picture or ArtMatic file so that each time the graphic event appears, the sound is played.

Special effects, fades, transitions, and title sequence features, along with powerful ArtMatic features, mean that VTrack can be used as a standalone video editor and sequencer or can be used to create whole videos or video clips for further processing and editing in other applications. Video output from VTrack can be in a number of formats, including QuickTime Movie, MPEG, AVI, and DV, with a number of codec and frame rate options. VTrack runs on Mac OS X using CarbonLib 1.3 or later and can run on Macintosh OS 9 as long as CarbonLib is installed. A VTrack demonstration version is available from the U & I Software Web site.

VTrack is listed for US$ 299. Along with ArtMatic and MetaSynth, various combination and upgrade discounts are available. Contact: U & I Software; electronic mail ui_public@uisoftware.com; Web www.uisoftware.com/.

Apple Final Cut Studio with Final Cut Pro 5 and Soundtrack Pro

Final Cut Studio is a suite of Apple software for the professional video market. The centerpiece of this collection is Apple's Final Cut Pro 5 video editing software with new High Definition (HD) support. Soundtrack Pro is included for audio editing and mixing, Motion 2 for real-time motion graphics, and DVD Studio Pro 4 to prepare and burn videos to DVD. Soundtrack Pro is a new product but the other applications are all upgrades of previous releases with powerful new features. Collectively, they offer the video producer a professional product that covers the entire video production process from start to finish.

Final Cut Pro 5 is a comprehensive video editing and mixing application with support not only for Digital Video and Standard Definition film, but also for a variety of High Definition (HD) formats, including uncompressed, HDV, DVCPRO HD (a Panasonic DV format), and newer formats. Among the new features in Final Cut Pro is support for multiple cameras, allowing editors to switch angles from shot to shot and automatically combine video sequences based on time-of-day timecode. Up to 128 sources can be used. Effects are processed in real-time on all formats. A new Dynamic RT (real-time) system can be set by the user to adjust image quality and frame rate in real-time according to CPU power usage. Also new in this version is support for 24 channels of 24-bit audio sampled at 96 kHz.

Although audio mixing is available in Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro with its roots in Apple's Soundtrack and Logic Pro applications provides additional plug-in, effects, and recording/editing utilities. More than 50 effects plug-ins and 5,000 Apple Loops, with a range of both musical sounds and sound effects, are included. A set of noise removal and audio...